A picture of three year old Brittany Lundy who was a victim of homicide in 1993, is on display with other pictures of Homicide victims, during the Justice For Homicide Victims Memorial Foundation event, “In Memory of all Victims of Crime” at Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary in Whittier Sunday.

Joseph Bejar, 10, of Norwalk, holds a picture in memory of his father Vincent Bejar, during the Justice For Homicide Victims Memorial Foundation event, “In Memory of all Victims of Crime” at Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary in Whittier Sunday.

WHITTIER >> Families bearing wounds owned only by those who have seen loved ones’ lives cut short by homicide gathered Sunday to support each other and renew their resolve to pursue justice, both in their own cases and others, during the 33rd Justice For Homicide Victims Memorial in Whittier.

Law enforcement officials and victims’ rights advocates shared their personal experiences and called for stronger protections for victims and their families, as well as stronger penalties for convicted killers in front of the permanent, marble Homicide Victims’ Memorial that stands in tribute to all those who lost their lives to violence at Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary.

JHV President Bill Bouffard spoke of concerns that after victims’ rights victories such as California’s Three Strikes law and the state’s Constitutional amendment recognizing a crime victims’ bill of rights known as Marsy’s Law, the justice system appears to be taking a turn in the other direction with recent legislation such as Propositions 47 and 57, aimed at reducing California’s crowded prison populations through less stringent sentencing and parole.

“We came a long way, but now we’re seeing it being eaten up again, and we’re starting to go backward. And we don’t want to go backward,” he told the assembled victims’ families.

“So that means all of you out there have to talk to people, explain to people what is going on, what’s happening,” Bouffard said. “Just try to make it better than you found it, is what I’m trying to say.”

Former state assemblyman Mike Gatto addressed the gathering not only as a politician, but as the son of a murder victim.

His father, Joseph Gatto, was slain during at his Silver Lake home on Nov. 12, 2013.

“My father, who was a loving, gentle, 78-year-old grandfather, a public school teacher and a veteran was murdered in a home-invasion robbery three-and-a-half years ago,” Gatto said. “As far as we know, his killer made off with maybe, possibly a few hundred bucks. His killer has not been caught. As many in the audience know, this changes your life.”

“The police theorize the person who killed my father was a petty criminal, the precise type of person a lot of reformers are trying to tell you now, and have tried to tell you in past years, is completely harmless,” Gatto said. “It’s likely, the police say, that his gateway crimes, before he graduated to murder on Nov. 13, were the type covered by Propositions 47 and 57, so I know how harmful that anybody who callously commits a crime, in any form, can be.”

“One thing that I don’t understand is why politicians can’t realize that in criminal justice we have to strike a balance again,” he said. “In the past few years alone, we’ve seen Prop 47, Prop 57, a judicial attack on our DNA testing laws, and this year there’s a proposal being floated to get rid of bail entirely.”

“I also want to stress that if some of these activists get their way, a person could steal a gun that is later used in a murder, get caught with date rape drugs on their person, rob somebody, get arrested repeatedly for those and similar crimes, and never have to submit to DNA testing, never have to pay any bail whatsoever and never spend a night in jail. Is that fair? Is it just? Does it provide justice for our families?” Gatto said.

“We victims’ families know just how harmful and how hurtful crime can be, and I think we also sense that the pendulum has shifted. It’s swung so far, so fast that it’s practically fallen off the clock,” he said. “This is my worry, and what keeps me up at night: that it’s going to take more high profile crimes to shift that pendulum back.”

Three mothers of murdered children discussed the often difficult and traumatic process that continues even after a killer is convicted in the form of parole hearings.

From repeated, last-minute hearing cancellations following day-long drives to remote prisons, to parole officials who seem more interested in releasing prisoners than distributing justice, Collene Campbell and Lee Bertha Pickett-Allen shared stories of the difficulties they’ve encountered while attending parole hearings to speak on behalf of their murdered sons.

Campbell’s son, Scott Campbell, 27, of Anaheim, was strangled and thrown from a small airplane into the Pacific Ocean near Catalina in 1982. His remains were never found. Two men have since been convicted of the crime. She described the parole hearing process as “barbaric.”

Picket-Allen’s 17-year-old son, Ernest Picket Jr., was gunned down after leaving Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, where he was a senior, in 1984. The case remained unsolved for more than a decade before two men were arrested and convicted of the murder.

Pickett-Allen, and others, said they felt an obligation to attend parole hearings to provide a voice for their loved ones, who cannot speak for themselves. “We need to strap this to our backs and really wear it, but it does wear you down,” she said.

Jennifer Lundy, whose 3-year-old daughter was murdered in her own home in Montclair in 1993, explained that she’s had success in dealing with the system by applying constant pressure and never ceasing to assert her rights as a crime victim.

“Yes it’s hard, and yes, there’s a lot of people who don’t want to go through their file again. There’s a lot of people who don’t want to drudge this up,” she said. “But if you do, you do not take no for an answer. You keep asking questions. You keep asking for the people. You hold them accountable.”

Lundy said she is now advocating the creation of a database of murder convicts, similar to existing databases of sex and arson offenders. The database would allow the community to be aware when they are living or working in proximity to a convicted killer who’s been paroled from prison.

JHV presented an “Outstanding Service” award to longtime organization volunteer Cynthia Bejar, as well as a “Special Recognition Award” to Montclair police Sgt. Byron Kelly, who discovered Lundy’s daughter in a closet, near death, in 1993 and tried to save her life. The little girl died in his arms. Years later, the lawman attended one of the killer’s parole hearings to help ensure he remained behind bars.

But roughly half of the survivors of homicide victims are yet to reach that point in the process, as the slayings of their loved ones remain unsolved.

Eight-year-old Nathalia Jackson, who attended the ceremony with her mother, Connie Chavarria, lost her father, 33-year-old Kenny Jackson, when he was shot during a robbery at the cell phone store he owned in Van Nuys in 2013.

“I miss him and I love him,” she said.

But the young girl has found a way to channel her grief into something positive. She designs, sews and donates a line of clothing called NAJI, Arabic for “survivor.” “It’s dedicated to my father and other children affected by homicide,” Nathalia said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Chief of Detectives Earl Shields encouraged those with unsolved cases to stay strong in their search for justice.

He spoke of cases that were solved years, or even decades, after the fact.

Homicide cases are never closed until they are solved, he said. And investigators regularly revisit old cases to see if they could be solved with new advances in forensic technology, new witnesses, or other means.

The somber but inspirational event took place among nearly 300 poster boards showing photos of homicide victims.

Victims’ families lit candles and released doves and balloons in tribute to their slain loved ones, as the children of the International Peace Choir performed. The event kicked off National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, which began Sunday.

Brian Day has covered crime and breaking news for the Southern California News Group since 2007. He’s a graduate of California State University, Fullerton and Cerritos College in Norwalk. He loves dogs and has a pet German shepherd, which in turn, has a pet cat. Brian is a local news junkie, a licensed drone pilot and a part-time science geek with an unfortunate predilection for puns.

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